CouncilPolitics

Carbonear to stick with in-person voting this fall

By Mark Squibb | July 22, 2021

While many communities across the Avalon, including Paradise, Conception Bay South, Holyrood, Mount Pearl, and St. John’s are adding a mail-in ballot option in the upcoming municipal elections, largely in light of the COVID 19 pandemic, Carbonear is resisting the jump to that bandwagon.

The decision was made during a special meeting of council held on July 6 and announced during the July 13 public council meeting.

“Mr. Mayor, I think that since this is a public meeting, it’s probably a good idea to give people an update in terms of what the plan is for September’s election,” said councilor David Kennedy during the opening minutes of the July 13 meeting, after council had adopted the minutes of the previous meeting as well as the July 6 special meeting.

During the special meeting, it was resolved that the Town of Carbonear hold in person voting for the 2021 Town of Carbonear municipal election, a decision that was ratified at the regular session.

“We had to determine at that point in time whether we would proceed that way, or vote by mail, because both had different requirements for advertisements and times that you had to hold nominations, etcetera,” explained Town Clerk Cathy Somers. “It was recommended by the finance committee first, and then reviewed with the whole council, so we decided to do with in-person voting, that was the motion of council at that special meeting.”

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